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Sydney, Nova Scotia Employment Information

Sydney, NS Overview

Sydney is located in the Nova Scotia (NS) province, over 4 hours from Halifax, on the northeastern end of Cape Breton Island. Sydney, NS was once a city, but it was absorbed into the Cape Breton Regional Municipality in 1995. The area is going through a period of economic revamping, and unemployment is notoriously high, especially in some industries, but the cost of living in Sydney, NS is extremely low. Rent for an apartment in the city centre averages around C$900 per month for a one bedroom flat and C$1450 per month for a three bedroom one. Looking outside the city proper, rent for an apartment is just C$675 for a one bedroom and C$950 for a three bedroom.

Sydney, NS Job Opportunities

Unemployment in Sydney, NS has been trending around 15 per cent since 2009, with forestry and mining hit especially hard. Those industries have an unemployment rate of almost 23 per cent, but not all industries are suffering. Job opportunities in transportation and warehousing are increasing by 6.6 per cent a year while the professional, scientific and technical service industry in the area is growing by 6.2 per cent a year. Retail is also strong. The unemployment rate is also less than 2 per cent in the health care and social assistance industries in Nova Scotia.

Sydney, NS Employment Trends

The goods-producing sector accounts for just under 20 per cent of the jobs in Sydney, NS but that in number is in decline. The Sydney, NS was also once a major centre for coal and steel industries but as those markets changed, the area economy was forced to diversify. While those efforts were aggressive, the area was plagued with fewer opportunities and high unemployment. This caused many younger people to leave the area and resulted in an aging population as well as a declining overall population in the Cape Breton area.